Paul Graham discusses
cities and ambition. The setup, that different cities send distinct messages, works as a decent framing device for discussing urbanism, but some of the messages are debatable. Berkeley ("You should live better") sounds right, as does Silicon Valley ("You should be more powerful"), but New York ("You should have more money") sounds off. I propose NYC's should be "You should have more influence," defined as a combination of power and connections. Interestingly, none of the messages sound particularly attractive, except perhaps Cambridge ("You should be smarter"), which I find sorta boring. Propose your own city messages
in the comments...
Minneapolis: "You deserve better."
Seattle: "You missed the good times."
Los Angeles: You should have bigger breasts.
Orlando: "You should move."
Detroit: "You should wear Kevlar."
Minneapolis: "You should be content."
LA: "You should ... Well you're just all wrong!"
LA: You should be better looking
SF: You should be more open
Austin-- You should be weirder.
Los Angeles: "That should really be a veggie burger."
Salt Lake City: "You should be Mormon or hate that you live in a place where a bunch of Mormons live."
Dublin: "You should be out drinking every night of the week"
Chicago: "You really shouldn't put ketchup on your hot dog."
Minneapolis: "You shouldn't be so ambitious."
St. Paul: (crickets)
Reminds me of Rocketboom's Andrew Baron saying he had to get out of Austin, TX because it's a city that discourages ambition.
Los Angeles: You should be in porn. Let me take you to my studio.
Minneapolis: "You should settle down."
Re: Austin discouraging ambition. Hadn't thought of that before, but it's totally right. Glad I left, though can't say I've made much progress in the ambition department.
Los Angeles: "She's just not that into you."
Austin: You're too uptight.
Tulsa: You should be in church.
Toronto: "You should be in New York City."
Milwaukee: "You should be drunk."
Portland: You should be wetter.
Also--
Spokane: You should be whiter.
Isn't this the "every city has a word" concept from Elizabeth Gilbert's book Eat, Pray, Love? Okay, the PhD version.
Philadelphia: "You need to pull yourself together."
Memphis: "You should be in a band."
Minneapolis: You should be authentic (but still a hipster).
St. Paul: You should be authentic (and have a sweet mullet).
seattle: you should be passive-aggressiver
San Francisco: "You should start a company."
(Not being clever; actually true.)
We all know Mpls asks, chastely, passive-aggressively, "Who do you think you are?"
Portland - "Gosh you're so sincere" (see today's NYT "Portland Journal")
Nashville: You should really learn how to play that guitar.
Fargo: "You should learn to tread water"